AC/DC Melbourne double booking resolved

NAB Cup tournament was scheduled on same dates

BRISBANE, Australia -- AC/DC's opening homecoming "Black Ice" tour dates in February at Melbourne's Etihad Stadium will go ahead after a double-booking dispute was resolved between the Australian Football League and the venue's operators.

The tour's co-promoters Garry Van Egmond Enterprises and Chugg Entertainment had an existing agreement with the stadium's operators to host the opening three AC/DC concerts on Feb. 11, 13 and 15. However, the AFL's directors threw a spanner in the works when they claimed the venue had a contractual arrangement to host the preseason NAB Cup tournament on the same dates, an argument which brought both parties into litigation.

With today's resolution, the AC/DC concerts will take place as planned.

"It was never a concern of mine. We always knew we had a watertight contract," Van Egmond told Billboard.biz today. "I always knew, from legal advice, that we had a watertight contract and that the AFL was just playing a game to get a better deal. We're ready to rock."

Through the new arrangement, the 16 AFL clubs will split an extra AUS$5.5 million ($4.8 million) in income from Etihad Stadium (formerly the Telstra Dome) for a 15-year period ending in March 2025.

"We'll schedule around AC/DC and we'll probably end up doing the NAB Cup over a two- or three-week period for the first round," AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou told reporters this morning.

Ticket sales for the AC/DC tour have been outstanding. Van Egmond says well over 620,000 tickets have been sold for the 11-date run, which also visits Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and concludes March 8 at Perth's Subiaco Oval.